Android to Windows Phone

[garak0410]

Hi!

I've been a fan of Windows Phone since it was announced. I was very active in the Backstage boards and even won a Zune for my activity (we are a Zune family as I, my wife and daughter all have Zune's now.)

I used Windows Mobile since the days it was PDA only as Pocket PC. My last Windows Mobile device was an HTC Fuze which for the most part, I enjoyed using. I went Android because it seemed a lot like WinMo to me and WP7 was still many months away. I've had the Samsung Captivate and now I am on the Samsung Infuse. Despite the quirkiness of Android (lockups, reboots, install issues at times), I am pretty happy with it. I do like the geekiness of it for sure.

But, I still come back to Windows Phone. When we switched carriers at work, I chose a Windows Phone (the lackluster HTC Trophy). For the most part, I like it. I am a Zune Pass owner and while I can't download music to it since my three devices are used up, I can still stream all the music I want and I really like it. I also like pinning a favorite album to the live tiles.

Because of the quirkiness and call quality issues we are having with our Samsung Infuses, we've been approved for an exchange. We are thinking serious about the HTC Titan when it is released or settling with the Samsung Focus S. But still, while having the most apps isn't that important to me, I still feel this "alone" feeling when it comes to some quality, useful apps for the phone. Also, the lack of any new phone having expansion or even more than 16GB bothers me some.

Again, I am fully behind WP7 but afraid to go totally to it as of yet. Convince me!

 

[jeremyshaw]

I got my Focus to replace a dead Zune HD. That alone, was enough to convince me.

Otherwise, for most "social" items (all I use is Live, but Twitter occasionally), are already integrated deep into the phone itself, rather negating a whole category of applications.

Games are a lither pricier than I feel like they should be, and IE9 has a few rendering "enchancements" that annoy me on certain websites.

When I got my Focus, I was just looking to replace my Zune HD alongside a Moto Atrix. I did the usual, import music, my WL (also tied to my xbox live) account, and my Google Apps (for work) account. The way the people hub works - linking my contacts across several services, continuing a single conversation across several platfroms (WL, Twitter, email to a degree), was something that impressed me. One, singular application, had fully replaced the functionality of several applications on my Atrix. It wasn't until I pulled my Atrix's SIM to test out in my Focus, that I realized what MS had meant back at the WP7 launch adverts - "we're here to save you from your phone." I thought that was just a tagline a marketing exec had though of. However, having a single system handle all my email, chat, and phone calls, reduced the applications, screen presses, and my "setup" time. As a direct result, I used my phone less, and still did more work than my Atrix could in a day. That's why battery life comparisons vs Android/iOS based on specs didn't cut it for me - I simply didn't need to use my phone as much, because it was faster at completing what took my Atrix more resources and time from me to do. SMS incomming? I can continue the chat on email, or twitter, all from the profile view.

So that's why I ended up with WP7, after modding the life out of my Aria and Atrix (CM7 and Aura/CM7, respectively). All it took was Zune to be the catalyst for improving my mobile life overall. I don't even watch my battery like a hawk anymore (Atrix and Aria, I had the battery life indicator report in percentage numbers). I just know I can get away with charging my Focus about once every 1-2 days, though I think Twitter really is cutting into that battery life


Well, have fun on whatever you choose. I know HTC, Moto, and probably others are trying hard to copy what WP7 has done in the HTC Sense and MOTOBLUR, though both are seriously lacking in integration beyond a contact list (application integration, service integration, etc).

 

[garak0410]

Another biggie for me has always been Outlook syncing, though I have finally succumbed and let Google sync my contacts and calendar and I use CompanionLink on the PC to sync back to Outlook. I tried the Outlook Connector once to test the waters for Outlook syncing to WP7 but it was horrible. Guess I can still use google services to sync my calendar and contacts to my WP7, if I go that directions.

On my work WP7, I've looked and I couldn't pin my calendar to my live tiles. I do like having calenar widgets on Android for my calendar. I assume there may be one in the market place but haven't looked yet.

Going to work the heck out of my work WP7 to see what I'll gain and miss if going totally to WP7.

 

[jeremyshaw]

WP7 has a default calendar as a double wide live tile. It showed all of my Google Apps Calendar items after I synced my GApps account.

 

[garak0410]

WP7 has a default calendar as a double wide live tile. It showed all of my Google Apps Calendar items after I synced my GApps account.

Can we do a collective "duh." I guess I just ignore it...ha.

 

[jeremyshaw]

One of the more useful things I didn't mention were linked email inboxes. I linked my work accounts into one, and my personal accounts into another. Pinned both to seperate live tiles, and my email is now simplified, lol.... (and it displays unviewed - not unread, btw - email count. Very convinient for me, and clears up a lot of clutter on the main screen). TO clarify what this means, if I have 3 new, unread email messages, the live tile will show, "3." If I open up the live tile to the inbox, and read 2 of the messages (never touching the third), and go back to the main screen, it will show nothing now If I recieve another 2 messages, it will show "2" (even though 3 messages are unread). So very neat for me.


Though one major bonus for me in WP7 (doesn't mean much for pinyin/most US users but....) Trad. Chinese IME pad. WinMo was desperately lacking one. Android is lacking an useable one (couldn't find one in the market - not even a Japanese Kanji one! [anyone finds one, please lmk]), though iOS has a very useable one.

kk, enough about me, have fun!

 

[garak0410]

Good info everyone...Again, I am not anti Droid or WP7...I only went Droid because of the wait for WP7...I went Android on my tablet too because of the wait for a good Windows tablet...really enjoying the ASUS Transformer...so if I go WP7, I'll still get my droid fix with my tablet...